Chris Martenson is really gaining traction. He’s not a doomer. He’s a clear thinking analyst. And he’s calling it like it is. The end of cheap oil means the end of economic growth as we’ve known it. This is from Yahoo’s Tech Ticker.

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In World Without Growth, Buy “Water, Food and Warmth,” Chris Martenson Says

Growth is a thing of the past, or soon will be, says economic researcher Chris Martenson.

Why?

Production of conventional oil (i.e. easy to exploit) peaked in 2005, Martenson says, expressing a firm belief that ‘peak oil’ is fact, not theory. (Definition: when the maximum rate of oil extraction is reached, production then enters terminal decline). The rest of the harder-to-find oil will peak in the next one-to-five years, he says. “Economically speaking [that’s] a blink of an eye.”

If the world can’t meet it’s energy demands, “growth might be something we factor out of our equations,” Martenson warns.

This is a HUGE problem for the U.S. and the rest of the world, including the pre-ordained next economic super power, China. The International Energy Agency says China is the largest energy consumer in the world. Martenson believes that’s only going to increase as “China’s internal demand is coming on like gangbusters.”

It’s a simple premise but not so easy to put in to practice, he admits. One can buy commodity ETFs but “they tend to get front run by the professional commodity traders,” he says, further noting there are few vehicles focused on directly buying farmland.